Why Did You Start Winding?

[big_teee]

This seems to be a topic of interest, so here is a Thread Devoted to it.
The object of rewinding is to:
1. Save Money
2. Make a better Pickup than Stock
3. Better Quality for less money than stock
4. Make something a bit different than norm
5. Some Do it as a Business to make Money
There are Those that are strictly into Vintage Pickups.
There are Those that do Just Bass Pickups.
Those that Wind to enhance their custom built Guitars.
Those that think that vintage is dead, and that everything has to be a new design.
IMO No wrong way to wind, or a wrong type to Wind!
So what is Your Reasons for Winding?
B_T

[ReWind]

I got into winding basically out of necessity.

I couldn't afford to buy all the vintage and boutique pickups I wanted to try, and I'm electrically and mechanically inclined, so a few years ago I started researching and experimenting with my own. Oh, what a fool was I! I could have bought a few sets of vintage PAFs with all the money and time I spent on tools and materials. haha!

A few other reasons that played into it are:

Chasing the sound of a long lost humbucker I used to own (still chasing it too).
Pickups were the only part of a signal chain that I hadn't already built myself.

[big_teee]

I got into winding basically out of necessity.

I couldn't afford to buy all the vintage and boutique pickups I wanted to try, and I'm electrically and mechanically inclined, so a few years ago I started researching and experimenting with my own. Oh, what a fool was I! I could have bought a few sets of vintage PAFs with all the money and time I spent on tools and materials. haha!

A few other reasons that played into it are:

Chasing the sound of a long lost humbucker I used to own (still chasing it too).
Pickups were the only part of a signal chain that I hadn't already built myself.

Thanks for the response.
About the same here.
I got into guitars late in life about a year before retiring as a Communication Tech.
I have always been a tinkerer, Ham Radio, Ammo Reloader.
Plus the 42 years of tedious Electronic Phone office work.
Always been into the Music, and have chased Rock and Roll since my teen years.
Years ago I played a bass a little bit, but being Left Handed I could never adapt to the Right Hand Playing.
So the biggest difference then and now is all the inexpensive left hand Guitars and Basses.
Still not too good at playing them but sure have fun with the messing with the equipment.
If it didn't cost so much Jack, I like working on and building the Amps, more than the Pickups.
Good Luck,
Terry

[David Schwab]

2, 4 and 5. I didn't like what was on the market and had a sound in my head.

[big_teee]

How about the rest of you guys.
Why, and when did you start winding.
Terry

[kev]

I started researching methods and theory to build pickups for a guitar I am designing.
Once I got further into them I was hooked. After getting some very good feedback from local guys I was hooked more.

I'm having fun, learning a lot, and my mindset as well as previous development background really helps things along.
It seems like this may be a good transition for me out of the automotive market also.

[Jim Shine]

It kind of made sense. I studied electronics in the late 80's-early 90's. The school was so outdated that for the first 2 years everything was 20+ year old technology. We learned on Heathkits and old 60's films and slides converted to VHS. I was buying and selling guitars at that time for extra money, so being able to fix electronics was cool, but made me want to learn how to fix the rest, so I dropped out of electronics and apprenticed under a luthier.

My #1 reason to start rewinding was I was only working on vintage guitars for many years (mostly Fender) and dead pickups were very common. The CBS stuff I had a local guy winding and older stuff went to a couple different people. I used Jim Rolph (we used to chat on the phone quite a bit in the 90's) and a guy named Peter Leonard in Canada. The local guy didn't pay attention to detail and I was getting pickups that should have had 42 PE back with 44 pink poly. Peter did a great job, was very reasonable, and had a good eye, so I started sending him everything, but it would slow down my turn around time shipping and such so I started rewinding on my own.

[FunkyKikuchiyo]

A few reasons:

1. I wanted to do something other than repairs and couldn't afford to build guitars - making pickups is a good microcosm. Had I known how expensive pickup making can get, I might have tried something else.

2. I felt I had/have a pretty good ear for nuance. I've always done pretty well guessing gear used in recordings just by listening and such, and thought those skills would lend themselves to pickup making which is incredibly nuanced based.

3. I'd done enough electronic work where I didn't feel it was beyond my skill set, from a practical stand point.

[big_teee]

I like the fact that it can be a just part time hobby, done with real basic tools.
Or, you can go into full blown Production with fancy Automatic Winders.
I still just wind with a Dewalt Cordless Drill.
I have a fancy winder sitting on the floor, but always seem to use the Drill.
That's how I started, and that's what I'm used to and My Mind is Programmed to use.
So Why did You start, and you may want to discuss what type of winder you use.
Nothing is too small, or nothing is to big or automated.
It's a fun Hobby, however you do it!
T

[copperheadroads]

Just out of curiosity i guess
Back in the 1990 i put a Duncan jb in a buddys MIJ squire strat ,cutting the pickguard & routering the slot for the humbucker
he recked the start wire on the stock single coil that came out of the squire so for shits n giggles i rewound it
All i had was some large magnet wire 32 or something & along with the help of Dan Erlewine's guitar player repair guide got it done by hand

[Arthur Dent]

Pickups were actually my last thing to make in the entire signal chain. I had made guitars, amps, pedals, and even cables, so I figured I may as well make the pickups too. I also wanted to make more guitars and couldn't afford to buy more good pickups. Then I figured out that you can do more interesting stuff with pickups and electronics than with the rest of the guitar, so that's where my focus went.

This will likely earn me some ridicule, but I currently wind all of my pickups *by hand*, as in no machine at all. Most of them have fewer than 500 turns of 30 AWG wire, so it works well enough. I'm working on setting up my wood lathe to spin and count.

[big_teee]

Pickups were actually my last thing to make in the entire signal chain. I had made guitars, amps, pedals, and even cables, so I figured I may as well make the pickups too. I also wanted to make more guitars and couldn't afford to buy more good pickups. Then I figured out that you can do more interesting stuff with pickups and electronics than with the rest of the guitar, so that's where my focus went.

This will likely earn me some ridicule, but I currently wind all of my pickups *by hand*, as in no machine at all. Most of them have fewer than 500 turns of 30 AWG wire, so it works well enough. I'm working on setting up my wood lathe to spin and count.

No Ridicule here.
This is the Beginner and hobby Corner.
No pickup winding technique is too small or too Large.
Like I mentioned Earlier I still wind with my Electric Drill.
I have a winder with a counter, but I still like my old drill, with no counter.
I'm retired so no hurry, and no Schedule.
If you like the way you do it, So do I.
Happy Holidays,
Terry

[Arthur Dent]

No Ridicule here.
This is the Beginner and hobby Corner.

That's just it, I've been doing this for years, and now I'm actually trying to sell these things!

Anyway, the way I do it wouldn't work for conventional pickups with thousands of turns of fragile wire, and a conventional winder hasn't the cojones for 30 AWG. And I don't particularly like the way I do it, that's why I'm working on the lathe setup. It works though, and I'm more than happy with the pickups.

Merry Christmas.

[David Schwab]

This will likely earn me some ridicule, but I currently wind all of my pickups *by hand*, as in no machine at all. Most of them have fewer than 500 turns of 30 AWG wire, so it works well enough. I'm working on setting up my wood lathe to spin and count.

That's how Rick Turner started out.

You were actually winding them by hand?
Yes, literally. I would be counting the windings, "822, 823, 824...", and my wife would walk in and say something, and I would go, "What dear? Oh no! How many turns was that?" (laughter)

Turner Renaissance Guitars - Hand-Built Guitars, Basses & Ukuleles By Rick Turner.

[Mark Hammer]

It may have had something to do with removing the cover from a commercial pickup and tearing the coil. Maybe.
It probably also started with a column by Jeff Baxter in Guitar Player, stumbling onto a cheap roll of #42, and wanting far more variety in pickups than I could afford.